As soon as we arrive at Charlie and Kristen’s house, Dao is whisked away to look at something Kristen has bought. Charlie and I stay in the kitchen with a beer and I give her a brief summary of developments. It’s interesting how someone can ask you a question, and through the process of explaining you come to see things from a new angle.
‘Those tracks – someone made them, so there must be some purpose behind them,’ says Charlie. ‘If it’s a popular recreation spot that could explain it. Or maybe people hunt in those hills? I don’t really know anything about the Hunua ranges.’
‘We’ll try to find out tomorrow or Monday. I’ll check the Internet for a map. The part where he went is not where the recreational people go – it’s outside the Regional Park. We’ll continue on standby and when he leaves, we’ll follow him. He can’t have gone very far today in the time he was away from his car. We can eliminate one track after another.’
‘Yeah, I suppose, but maybe he leaves the track at some point, cuts through the bush to some place where he has her hidden, or to another track. That would be quite clever – park in one area and cross to a track with a different starting point. And don’t forget that other woman, the one who vanished out of sight a couple of years ago. She must be somewhere too.’
We look at each other and change the subject, but it is clear she has something on her mind. A few minutes later she abruptly reverts to the topic. ‘I haven’t told Kristen anything about this. I just can’t get involved. I would risk everything if I lie to her, mate. She’s the only person who ever loved me. I can’t risk it.’
I’m speechless. She is not joking, she really means it. I had no idea she felt like that; she has never said anything like it in all the years we have known each other.
She turns her back and peers into the oven.
I get my thoughts in order and come around the counter to stand beside her. ‘I can’t believe you said that, Charlie. I mean, everyone loves you. The whole damn unit loved you – every last one.’
She shrugs. ‘Yeah, I suppose. But that’s liking – not the same as love. You know the difference. My family can’t stand me because I’m gay. They’re staunch fundamentalist people, think they’ll go to hell if they so much as let me into the house. I haven’t been back to try to see them for years. My sister’s kids don’t know I exist – she told me when I called last year, just to test the waters. I’ve been deleted from the family, Hunter. I don’t exist. Thank God we have Kristen’s brothers and all their kids – and you and Dao, of course.’
I put my hand on her shoulder. ‘I love you, Charlie. I’d do anything for you, just like I would for Dao and my sisters.’
She sighs. ‘I know. I love you too. But I can’t risk my relationship with Kristen. I just can’t.’
She steps away, turns back to the oven and fiddles with the knobs. I am about to say, ‘Let’s forget about it, we might never need the chopper anyway,’ when Kristen and Dao come back. They are both smiling, and Dao has a large carrier bag with a shop name printed on it. She puts it down and turns to me, her face alight with excitement.
‘Just wait till I show you what Kristen bought me for my birthday! Lovely clothes.’
‘Birthday? That’s not until August. Kristen, you haven’t spent a lot of money on Dao again, have you?’
Kristen looks vague; not a look I associate with her. ‘Oh, is it August? I thought it was this month.’
Charlie shakes her head. ‘It’s a girl conspiracy, mate. You might as well give up. She loves buying things for Dao. It’s like having a life-size doll to dress.’
Kristen and Dao ignore us. Kristen pours wine for herself and lemon, lime and bitters for Dao and they sit down at the table with their backs turned and ignore us.
Halfway through dinner Charlie clears her throat and says, ‘Kristen, I think you should know that Hunter and Dao have one hell of a problem. And don’t panic, I’m not going to get …’
Kristen interrupts, cool as a cucumber. ‘You mean the search for Hope Barber?’
I hold my breath and glance at Dao. She is putting a forkful of chicken into her mouth with a dreamy look on her face. Charlie just stares.
Kristen lifts her wine glass and says in a conversational tone of voice, ‘I imagine they might need you and the chopper, if things don’t work out on the ground. I hope you’re not completely booked up the next few days.’
I decide to keep my mouth shut. Charlie only manages to say ‘How …’ before Dao interrupts.
‘I told Kristen all about it, because you said you couldn’t have anything to do with it, but I thought she should know the story. You know, just in case she thought you should help. She has read Hope’s diary stories too, so she understands how serious it is, and that it can’t wait.’
Her gaze moves to me. ‘We’ve made a deal, Hunter. I’ve promised Kristen that we won’t let Charlie shoot anyone. Or do anything illegal. So you’ll have to do it, Hunter – I mean, if we have to shoot someone.’
‘That’s OK,’ I say. ‘Did Dao tell you about our failure today, Kristen?’
From this point there is only one topic of conversation. Charlie and Kristen are not familiar with the place Stuart went to, but as Kristen says, ‘If he wanted an innocent two-hour walk in the bush he would have gone to the Regional Park, not miles over to the side where nobody goes. Or maybe bird watchers do, and hunters.’
She has only learned about this tonight, but she pulls facts and ideas together and comes up with conclusions and theories. I bet she is good at her job; she is a paralegal in a big law firm where a highly organised mind would be essential.
‘I do hope she is alive and kept up there in some hide-out, but there would be few places more suitable to hide a body relatively close to the city. I checked it on the Internet – it seems to be old established native bush – probably full of overgrown gullies and streams, fallen trees. And that part where the day trippers never go would be a safe place for him to do whatever he did without being disturbed. Dao said the tracks are good, so maybe even a moderately fit person could drag or carry someone up a track or conceal a body. If he drove up there at dusk and checked that nobody else was parked along that dead-end road – well, it would give him hours to do it and nobody around to see him.’
‘Exactly,’ I say, ‘but if he did that, why would he return today? Unless he left her body in a temporary place and went back to conceal it better?’
I don’t want to voice the thought that maybe he is depraved enough to go back to gloat over her dead body – or worse. There is no need to plant that thought in Dao’s mind.
Dao says, ‘Maybe he had her body in the house and loaded it on the truck this morning? There was that tarpaulin on the back, big enough to wrap a body in. No, he didn’t have enough time to disappear so fast, not if he was carrying a body. We can’t have been more than ten minutes behind him. And anyway, as Kristen said, why would he do it in daylight in a weekend, which is much riskier? I think he has her in a cabin somewhere up there.’
Nobody debates the point; we know that for Dao it is important to continue to believe that Hope is still alive.
Charlie and Kristen are very interested in Tama and, like us, they hope he will not end up in trouble. Kristen looks thoughtful when we tell her what we think it is safe to tell them.
‘I suppose it depends on what you find out, or what the police find out, at a later date.’ ‘Things change according to the circumstances. If you find Hope, dead or alive, and can prove that Stuart took her, then Tama is a heroic whistleblower who unmasked a criminal and eliminated corruption within a government organisation, whichever one it turns out to be. And if you fail, if Hope is not found and nothing sticks to Stuart, then Tama loses his job and might be prosecuted for leaking confidential information. And Stuart could sue him for defamation.’
A sobering summing up. We sit in silence for a moment. Then Kristen raises her glass in a salute. ‘Here’s to Tama – and to integrity and courage. And by the way, Hunter, this wine is fabulous. Thank you.’
At eleven we wake Scruff and leave. I have never hugged Kristen before, but today I do. ‘Thank you. It’s very generous of you to let us borrow Charlie again.’
She gently liberates herself and says in her understated way, ‘You’re such old mates. Like family, really. I know she wants to help you. And nobody else is doing anything practical about that poor woman.’
Once we’re in the car I get a chance to ask Dao when Kristen read Hope’s diary stories. ‘You didn’t bring the print version – how did you do it?’
‘I was prepared,’ says Dao. ‘I emailed them to myself from my laptop. So after I told her the story, I forwarded them to her from my phone. We printed them out on the printer in their study. Then I tried on clothes while she read them– and there were lots more clothes than those in the bag, you know, heaps more. She takes them home on some kind of loan and if they aren’t right she returns them. I didn’t even know you could do that. Are you angry I told her?’
‘God, no. I’m just amazed. I never suspected you were going to do this.’
‘I thought I might get a chance to talk to her. You know how Charlie said I might have to talk to Kristen, because she didn’t dare to do it herself. I know she was joking, but I thought it might work. It was so lucky she took me to the bedroom to try on clothes – perfect. She totally understands that we might need Charlie.’
She sits quiet and thoughtful for a moment before she continues.
‘And you know what? I don’t think she really cares that Charlie might get arrested for doing something illegal. I think she’s just worried that Charlie will get hurt.’
We say no more about it. I make a mental note to order a case of that red wine to be sent to Kristen.